Three Blogs I Responded To

http://thelightninginme.blogspot.com/
http://johnpcsilva.blogspot.com/

http://teachingonamisson.blogspot.com/

Benefits of Music Education - Music education for kids and adults.

Music education is important to elementary children for a variety of reasons, I think. 

First of all it's FUN!  It provides 50 minutes of their school day once or twice a week to be filled with fun, engaging activities that, though they can tie to other academic areas, isn't a core academic class.  Students can come into the music room and let their hair down a little - sing, dance, explore music instruments, explore different types of music.  So many wonderful and creative things can happen in an elementary music classroom!

Secondly, studying music can help kids learn more advanced problem solving skills.  See this video below.  I think it sums it up quite nicely. 



Lastly, it gives students an opportunity to be exposed to an area they may find they truly love, but wouldn't have had the opportunity to know that if it hadn't been for the elementary general music education program. My love of music was cultivated through my public school experiences!  Some of my fondest memories include band bus trips to out of town football games and trips taken with my Community College band.  How I LOVED music and band as an elementary, Jr High, High School, and college student. Music Education is an important program for all elementary schools!!

Here's a little more food for thought on my I believe this to be so important:

http://www.childrensmusicworkshop.com/advocacy/12benefits.html

Thankful.......

This is my first year of teaching - something I would have NEVER thought I'd be doing this time last year.  It's been a huge transition from my prior career (which seems a lifetime ago though it's only been 4 months!!).  It's been a bit like......no, wait......it HAS been a tornado.  Deadlines fly at me at warp speed, summer flew away and fall blew in at some point...not sure when that happened exactly. My desk (and the floor and cabinets near it) are piled and covered with who knows what.  Most days I'm not sure what day of the week it is or what date it is.  Is it November??  It feels like it should still be August.  I've been sick three times.  I've lost 10 pounds (that's a good thing!).  I never sit down.  I barely have time to eat lunch.  I prepare and prepare but still feel like I'm flying by the seat of my pants.  And...........I'm having the most fun I've ever had at a job, ever in my life.  I've had some great jobs in my career, but NOTHING compares to the work I'm doing with my elementary kids.  So, this week of Thanksgiving, I find myself feeling almost overwhelmingly thankful for the drastic turn my life has taken with a giant leap into the world of teaching.  I think we hope as teachers to be someone who makes a difference in the lives of the children we teach, that we'll touch their lives in some way.  I honestly don't know what impact I'm having on the 350 children who step into my classroom each week, but I can tell you this - those 350 kids are having a HUGE impact on me and I know I'll never be the same.